Julie Chan Is Dead

The term “influencer” (sometimes also known as “content creator”) describes an individual who earns income via posting videos and other content to social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram or TikTok. Different platforms can be monetized in different ways: For example, on YouTube, the most successful creators receive a percentage of the site’s ad revenue, while Instagram influencers are paid directly by brands whose products they promote. The influencer industry can be traced to the rise of successful bloggers in the early to mid-2000s. Individuals who started successful blogs (websites consisting of units of written content known as “posts,” typically released at regular intervals) began to monetize by including paid advertisements and sometimes endorsing specific products. Because blogs often included comment sections in which creators could engage directly with readers, this type of digital content began to foster what is known as parasocial relationships, in which readers or followers experienced the psychological illusion of “knowing” and feeling emotionally connected to a creator, even though they only ever engage with them in a highly mediated way.

As visual-based social media platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest became increasingly popular, and smart phones made it easier than ever to produce sophisticated visual and video content, the influencer industry shifted towards video creators.